Franchise Spotlight: Personal Services
Start-up costs and overheads are comparatively low for various sectors within this category.
Broadly defined as catering to an individual’s rather than a household’s or business’ needs, personal service franchises span a wide range of sectors.
There’s Fitness First’s personal trainer franchise, for instance, and hair and beauty franchises like body piercing specialist Essential Beauty, laser hair removal and cosmetic treatments provider Laser Clinics Australia, and hair salons TONI&GUY and Just Cuts.
Financially comfortable but time-poor family households where both parents work provide significant demand for personal services like lawn care, domestic cleaning and dog walking franchises.
Animal-loving would-be franchisees have plenty of choice, including Pooch MobileDog Wash, pet grooming service DOGUE, dog minding service Don’t Fret Pet, and pet-sitting and dog-walking franchise Lonely Pets Club.
Australia’s growing demographic of affluent retirees are a valuable source of demand for travel agency franchises such as Travel Associates, Helloworld Travel and iTravel.
An ageing population is also propelling the strong industry growth rate of home care services provided by the likes of Senior Helpers and Nurse Next Door.
Tutoring franchise School is Easy (SIE), catering services supplier Kubarz, car hire franchises Hertz and Green Motion, and home loan and mortgage providers Aussie and AMS Financial Group could also be characterized as offering personal services.
Industry trends
Despite being such a diverse category, an analysis of franchise systems reveals that few personal service franchises are operated out of premises, and often require no additional employees, keeping initial investment and ongoing overheads comparatively low.
The ability to work from home, and often with flexible working hours, is good news for aspiring franchisees seeking a happy work-life balance, such as those with young children.
Franchisees rarely had prior experience in the sector in question, although occasionally they already ran similar independent businesses and opted to rebrand under the franchise name to access its support, market research, marketing reach and brighter brand spotlight.